So for the first 5 days of this trip, Jon and I averaged about 4 hours of sleep a night. Until last night this had been a very grueling week. My eyes have never hurt like they did. Despite the lack of sleep, all my photography cylinders are firing. I know that the blog hasn’t been updated as frequently as some might like, but I have been averaging about 500 pictures a day. Of course this is when I can pull myself away from movies from the late 80’s. Predator holds up surprisingly well. Three men and a Baby is definitely dated. But who can resist Steve Gutenburg. Does anyone know what happened to his career?

The last 3 days have been very good. Bombay is such a unique place. It is Hollywood and New York combined in one. I had heard that Bollywood scouts search the town center for Americans to appear as extras in movies. So I put on my Sunday best and hoped for the best. Unfortunately no scouts thought I was interesting enough to put into a movie. But I have seen an episode of the Indian version of “So You Think You Can Dance”, and I think that I might be able to make it onto the show. If only I had more time!!! After meeting students in the office, Jon and I got a nice tour of the city. The highlight was riding in a car that was playing the “Macarenna”. It was only topped when “Who Let the Dogs Out” came on. It felt like a scene out of a movie. The Gateway of India was pretty outstanding. India likes their monuments large! Everything I have seen puts most American monuments to shame. After the tour, we got a quick bite of Indian McDonalds. I wished we could have spent a little more time in Bombay. There is so much to see and we barely scratched the surface.

We are now in Hyderabad. The city is surprisingly calm and clean. It has been nice to slow things down a little bit. We actually got a full night of sleep last night. Hyderabad is the largest Muslim city in India. Jon and I have decided that we are Canadian for this part of the trip. Actually the people have been absolutely amazing. I like being the object of attention. Unlike China, people want to interact with me instead of just staring. I posed for a few pictures and young children think that I am rather interesting. I would have to agree. After an early day of work Jon and I got a driver to take us around to the more interesting sites. The most interesting place was the Charminare. Built in the late 1500’s it is holds the oldest Mosque in the Hyderabad. It was also a photographers dream come true. The Mosque is surrounded by a bazaar. I went absolutely nuts with the photo opportunities. I couldn’t shoot fast enough. I almost pulled out a second camera to try and capture as much as I could. It was sensory overload. My only regret so far this trip is that I didn’t spend more time there. But I got some unique shots and can’t wait to share them. I feel that I am expanding my photographic eye. I am really pushing past my comfort zone and trying things that I would never do.

I know that there have been few posts. I am hoping that things will get a little better from here on out. The rest of the trip is more relaxed. Plus internet issues are worse than China. So for those of you still checking in, Thanks!!